Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Nintendo Switch)
That’s right. It’s visual novel time. Now this review is rather delayed, but I think it deserves a place here on What’s Good.
Besides gaming, I love reading and music. Now do me a favour, and smush them all together in one beautifully animated game themed around Greek Gods and I am there.
While playing a visual novel, you generally expect a lot of reading. I mean, it’s in the name. However, Stray Gods takes us through its narrative by song, and changes the song based on your responses to the current song and situation. It mesmerised me, and the thought of how many different versions of songs these talented musicians had to sing, blows my mind a bit. Some of the voices (and talented musicians) behind characters in the game are Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, Felicia Day and Rahul Kohli.
The game centers around a murder of a muse, and the transfer of her powers to a normal human. The other Gods think it’s the normal human, Grace, who killed Calliope, the muse. Fortunately, Grace can use her new muse powers to make people sing their hearts (and truths) out, and so the whodunnit begins to unfold.
While you’re on this musical journey, you meet Greek Gods like Apollo and Athena, all living in the modern-day world, and form relationships as you investigate deeper and deeper into the mystery murder. Some of these relationships can even develop into romances, if that’s what you want to do mid murder case.
The flow of the game and the next path you take is often decided mid-song, with a timed choice you need to make that often relates to an emotion. Should I approach Apollo in a hot-headed way, or should I be charming? These choices change not only the outcomes of the conversation, but also the tone and tempo of the songs.
This was a great experience, if not without some inconsistencies in the detail of the art, sound, and a few bugs here and there. It was well worth the 6 hours I spent in it and would love to experience more games in this new blend of genres.
Verdict: ✪✪✪ (Good)
✪ Poor (0-5) ✪✪ Mediocre (6-7) ✪✪✪ Good (8) ✪✪✪✪ Great (9) ✪✪✪✪✪ Must-play! (10)
